Monday, June 25, 2012

Read it, Read it, You Have To

There is no more room in our bookshelves so I haven't been purchasing books (but I'm rethinking this, one more can't hurt right?)  I wait, impatiently, for new titles from the New York Public Library. Specifically, Richard Ford's Canada, Laura Moriarty's The Chaperone, and Jeanette Winterson's Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?  I don't think I'll get them any time soon.  It's more likely, I'll be reading them 6 months from now.  There are a few others on hold but no word... (I feel as if I'm in a library blackhole.  Where are the books!?)

I'm currently reading a book that I've stopped and started five times.  It was clutched in every palm on the New York City subway two years ago. I'm drowning in it, wondering how on earth I'll ever get through.

I have an epic long to-read list and I just feel it's failing me, over and over. I have read so many books these past few weeks where I close the last page and think quick, on to the next one.  I just haven't fallen in love.  Sometimes I haven't even fallen in like.

I'm reading book blogs, book reviews, feeling meh, about everything.  Feeling that I can never quite understand how the reviewer truly feels.   Where are the books where there is no logic, no rhyme, no reason?  It's different than like.  It's different than, oh, yes, that was a good book.  It's even different than that was well written.  I'm talking about pure, inarticulate, head over heels in love books where you just scream Read it!  Read it!  YOU HAVE TO.

So I'm reaching out to all of you.  What's your Read It, Read It, You Have To recommendation?  What's your I will pay you to read this book book?

Since it's only fair I reciprocate, here's three off the top of my head, without thinking: Three Junes by Julia Glass, Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

So, what say you?  

15 comments:

  1. Dead witch walking by Kim Harrison- it's a must read.

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  2. I've read The Book Thief. I urge you to read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. I read it last week and wanted to start over and read it again.

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  3. First of all, OMG I KNOW HOW YOU FEEL!!!!!

    Secondly, ugh. I have such a hard time being so evangelical about specific books and I don't really know why except I feel like every time I build something up, when someone does read it they are let down.

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  4. My favorite book of all time is The Power of One, by Bryce Courtenay. A lovely, meaningful book that I recommend to EVERY person I know. I come back to it time and again because of the beautiful landscape, characters, and story captured within the pages.

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  5. I love The Book Theif. I'm struggling to find those kinds of books too.

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  6. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, hands down. I've never read a book that affected me as powerfully as that one. Good luck getting your books from the library!

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  7. I'm pretty sure Three Junes is in one of my packed boxes - when I unpack, I'll have to move it to the top of my TBR pile. I wish I had a suggestion to give you, but I haven't read many books the past few weeks.

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  8. Three Junes was great, and I loved The Book Thief. I haven't read the other, but will pick it up. I get weirded out every summer (you know, spending all that time at the pool) and come back over and over to a series of books all about Tuscany. Apparently, I'm dying to go there--in the summer--while I'm at the pool. :)

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  9. Melissa, I'm going through the same thing right now. I've got a stack of books--I've read a few pages of all of them--but I'm not falling in love with any of them. And all of these books have come highly recommended. Ha! Now I know how agents/editors feel when they hit the slush pile. :)

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  10. I'm adding the books suggested here to my to-read list, can't wait.
    I don't know how my three suggestions would affect others. Three tops for me are When We Were Orphans, Ahab's Wife, The Liar's Club. Usually I respond deeply to particular books because of some personal life experience or issue.
    Thank you for this great post!

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  11. I seem to be one of the few that hasn't read 'The Book Thief', I really must get to read this one day! I think my must reads are 'Memoirs of a Geisha' by Arthur Golden and 'The Elegance of the Hedgehog' by Muriel Barbery. Both of these are fabulous books.

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  12. Having a similar problem right now - unusual for me. I would recommend: The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie/Alan Bradley - the protag. is 10 years old - love that, and Memoirs of a Geisha. I just reread The Great Gatsby and To Kill a Mockingbird. Sometimes the rereading of a novel I have loved is just what I need :) Good luck!

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  13. Ooh, this is a good idea. I find myself in book lethargy sometimes too and then I realize that:
    1. I need to read in a different genre.
    2. I need to stop talking about books. Sometimes we just need them to be our little secrets, you know?

    So if I were going to reco any book right now (that's outside the YA genre), I would reco Child of My Heart by Alice McDermott. It's a beautiful summer read.

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  14. The last two books I really was stunned by were: THE FALSE FRIEND, by Myla Goldberg, and BY BLOOD by Ellen Ullmann.

    They each had a captivating quality that just transcended all the descriptions.

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  15. Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski. It's one that I wish got more buzz on blogs, because it's fantastic!

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